The present disclosure relates to a cleaning device and an image forming apparatus including the cleaning device. In particular, the disclosure relates to a cleaning device including a cleaning member for removing residual toner on a surface of an image carrier, and a discharge screw for discharging toner scraped off from a surface of the cleaning member to outside, the disclosure further relating to an image forming apparatus equipped with the cleaning device.
In image forming apparatuses using electrophotographic process such as copiers, printers and facsimiles, powdery developers are principally employed and it is common practice to take the steps of visualizing an electrostatic latent image formed on a photosensitive drum or other image carrier with use of a developing unit, transferring the visible image (toner image) onto a recording medium, and thereafter subjecting the transferred image to a fixing process. Toner remaining on the surface of the image carrier is removed by the cleaning device, followed by formation of a new toner image.
A cleaning device of one type among currently available ones includes: a cleaning member composed of a fur brush for removing toner from a surface of an image carrier and a collecting roller for collecting toner from the fur brush; a cleaning blade for scraping off toner from a surface of the collecting roller; a discharge screw for discharging toner scraped off from the surface of the collecting roller to outside; and a seal member for partitioning a housing interior into a collecting-roller side and a discharge-screw side.